


Sound of Silence

by DimTheLights



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of Violence, Mute!Bumblebee, loss of voice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:27:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24260566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DimTheLights/pseuds/DimTheLights
Summary: Mute:Adjective1.) Refraining from speech or temporarily speechless.After a heated battle things might never be the same again for Bumblebee.
Relationships: Blitzwing & Bumblebee, Blitzwing/Bumblebee
Comments: 8
Kudos: 156





	Sound of Silence

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a prompt for it on Tumblr from pastelpaperplanes and I had to write it   
> 🥺👉👈 
> 
> Hope y’all enjoy it!!

It was white. 

All he could see was a blinding, processor ache inducing, white. 

His circuits felt like they were on fire and his whole system threatened to kick him back into stasis. He felt like purging but he didn’t even know what was going on. 

Then, he saw color. 

One, no two, no five forms took shape, he recognized these faces. 

It was his team. 

When had he gotten knocked out? 

He just remembered Starscream resurfacing and causing havoc in Detroit, both autobots and decepticons wanted to capture him. There was a fight between him and Starscream. The Decepticon had knocked Bulkhead out before him. He remembered getting lifted up and tossed around, then taken hostage….then to rub salt in the wound, he remembered a sharp, nauseating, almost burning pain right in his throat.

His thoughts were interrupted by a muffled and alien sound, someone was talking but his processor was so fuzzy and so out of it, it felt like he was trying to listen to five Blurrs at once. 

“Kid, can you hear me?” Ratchet’s voice became clear and he saw him better now, he looked so worried, they all did, more worried than he’d ever seen them. 

He nodded, he didn’t trust his voice, it felt like his entire throat was on fire and he feared opening his mouth would just cause more pain. 

He was now more familiar with his surrounding, he was back at the base in Ratchet’s room, his team was around him, they all looked so concerned and tired, Prowl even broke his stupid stoic act and had the same worried expression everyone else did. Why were they so worried? If he was hurt Sari’s key could just fix him.

_ Right?  _

He tried to speak, to ask what was wrong, but he was met by what felt like daggers digging into the lining of his throat. It hurt so much, it felt terrible and almost made him purge at how dreaded it felt. He began to cough, which didn’t help the pain but it was a lot better than trying to talk. He hunched over and felt a warm servo on his back, trying to help soothe him through the coughing fit. 

He didn’t look up, he didn’t want to look up, the lights were giving him a processor ache and he didn’t like seeing all the concerned looks, why couldn’t they just use Sari’s key and fix him? He hated that he could scream at them to tell him what was going on, he hated that they were staying silent while he suffered. 

“Easy Bumblebee, take it slow.” 

Optimus, his servo was still on the yellow minibot’s back, he didn’t mind that but he would still like some damn answers to what was going on. 

“Kid, can you look at me?” Ratchet’s voice, for once, was calm, well calmer than usual but Bumblebee felt like he was trying to mask something, like his tone was hiding something. 

He obeyed and moved his helm to look at Ratchet. He felt a servo gently grab his helm and tilt it back, he was then met with a small light right in his optics, it stung and didn’t help his processor but he only squirmed slightly.

“Sorry, just need to make sure everything else is operating.” He sounded exhausted, something Bumblebee was used to but it felt different. 

When Ratchet finished the minibot blinked a few times, what did he mean by everything else? What was going on? What had happened? His memory from the fight was fuzzy but he knew something bad must have happened. 

He opened his intake to speak but was met with the same pain that caused him being a servo to his throat. It hurt so damn much, why did it hurt?

“Don’t bother kid, there's no point.” Ratchet said grimly, Optimus pulled back his servo and stared sternly at the medic. 

“Ratchet.” He gave a silent warning, but it was more of a plea to not upset the minibot on the med table. 

“What? It’s not like we can’t keep it from him.” The medic sighed and looked back at Bumblebee, his eyes basically screamed for an explanation that no one was telling. Ratchet supposed he should be the one to break the news. 

“Bumblebee, there was an altercation...while we were in battle, Starscream took you hostage and he…” Ratchet took a pause and met tired optics with wide, scared ones. 

“He destroyed your voice box.” The words rang through his helm. He did purge at that however. 

“Everyone out!” He heard Ratchet’s voice as it boomed in his helm, he then heard the thuds of everyone else leaving right before his systems began an automatic recharge. 

——-

When he woke up this time he only saw Ratchet, the lights weren’t as blinding but still didn’t help his processor. He got up slowly only to quickly lay back down, not his best idea because now his tank felt horrible again, he felt like he would purge again.

“Oh no, don’t even think about purging in here again, I just got it cleaned.” It was almost like Ratchet could read his mind. He at his work bench, back turned and messing with something Bumblebee couldn’t see. 

“You feeling any better?” He turned his helm slightly to look at the minibot. Bumblebee nodded, he didn’t feel the best but it was definitely better than when he first woke up. 

So his voice box was damaged? Why couldn’t Sari’s key just fix it? He wanted to ask, he needed to ask. 

“If you’re why we don’t just use Sari’s key it’s because while we did heal you just find with it, we can’t heal what’s not there.” He explained while going back to whatever he was working on. 

“We did manage to heal you but you don’t have your voice box, Starscream ripped it out and destroyed it, so we could only do so much with the key.” He moves slightly out of the way, making room so Bumblebee could see what he was doing. 

On the work table was what appeared to be a bunch of scattered and loose parts of a small device. It only took a moment for him to realize.

_ My voice box. _

“I’m not sure if I can fix it, it could be permanently damaged.” He said solemnly. 

Bumblebee just looked at the pieces on the workbench, it was weird seeing something that was supposed to be inside you, he felt sick again and averted his gaze. He took a deep vent and brought an arm to cover his optics from the lights. 

Then he felt coolant run down his face, he didn’t try to fight it, he just let it happen. He didn’t want to believe it, he really didn’t, this had to be a really bad dream, he’d wake up and he'd be fine, he’d be okay. 

_ Right? _

The coolant didn’t stop and every time he tried making a sound all that came out was a bunch of static mess, it sounded like small electric chirps. He hated this, he hated the pain, he hated how he could just scream out his frustration and take out his anger on that fragging Decepticon. 

He felt a servo on his shoulder and moved his arm to see Ratchet, he still looked worried but his features had softened. Bumblebee acted out of instinct and grabbed onto the medic in what was a very loose hug at first, Ratchet was surprised at first but held onto the kid, tightening the grip. He used a servo to rub circles on the minibot’s back, comforting him while coolant still ran down his face. 

“I’m here, don’t worry kid.” He held Bumblebee a bit closer, not even wanting to imagine what was going through his processor, his whole world was gonna be so different now. 

——-

It had definitely been a rough few weeks, Bumblebee was getting accustomed to not talking, or laughing, or shouting, it was beginning to get the minibot down a bit. 

He couldn’t talk everyone audials off with his excessive babbling, he couldn’t laugh with Sari and he could shout with pride when he won his silly video games. It was so alien to him now, not being able to say some snarky that would surly land him a servo to the back of his helm. Or get to talk to Sari about games or even to Prowl and annoy him to his last circuit. 

The rest of the crew tried desperately to cheer him up, but most attempts ended with the minibot wanting to say something but only small chirps would come out, sometimes even causing the smaller bot pain. He was still in the process of healing since the key could only do so much. 

Eventually the bot did get used to it, most of the day was spent getting his team to figure out what he wanted by games of charades and writing notes, however Prowl did manage to get the minibot to sit still for a moment to help him get more acquainted with not having a voice. 

Bumblebee eventually had enough being cooped up inside the base, he wanted to get out and just breathe for a moment. He appreciated everything his team was doing but he felt trapped most days without being able to communicate effectively or even just be able to walk around without the team acting like he’d break. 

Yes it was a painful and unforgettable experience that drastically altered his life in a probably irreversible way but he was still himself. Just a more quiet version of himself, and he wanted to just go out and not be bothered for a while. He knew they cared about him, he just couldn’t deal with the suffocating feeling anymore. 

So later that evening he decided he was ready for patrol again, finally getting approval to go alone, it was dangerous because if he did get in trouble it’s not like he could call for help. With enough begging and to a lesser extent stomping enough, he convinced Optimus to let him out. 

He probably broke a few more traffic laws than he’d like but he was happy to get away for a moment. His life had changed but it didn’t mean he had to stop living it, especially when he neglected to tell a certain someone where he’d been. 

He eventually pulled off the main road for a dirt trail that led deep into one of the surrounding forests. It was here that he and Blitzwing would meet to be together. They’d been “dating” for a few months after surprisingly not offlining each other one night during patrol. Now that he’d been gone for a few weeks he knew the triple changer would be worried or probably pissed. 

He pulled to a stop in a middle of a clearing, transforming out of his alt mode and scanning his surroundings. He waited for a moment, then a moment more before he heard the familiar sound of jet turbines overhead. With a thud, the triple changer was towering over the minibot before crouching down and reducing their height difference just a bit. 

“Hummel! Where have you been? I never saw you after that Battle with Starscream, I was terrified something bad happened to you.” Blitzwing’s Icy persona had never looked this worried, he was usually so collected and calm but now he had both his large servos on either side of Bumblebee’s face, gently tilting his helm and inspecting him like he expected him to be physically damaged. 

Bumblebee smiled and leaned into the warm touches, he’d missed Blitzwing so much, he wanted to tell him everything that had happened, then his smile faltered, he felt coolant threatening to spill. How could he tell Blitzwing what happened when he had no voice? 

Bumblebee pulled away from Blitzwing’s grip, trying to figure out the best way to break the news, he placed a small servo into Blitzwing’s, running his thumb along the back of the Decepticon’s servo. He took a deep vent and opened his intake, letting out a small little electric chirp. 

“Hummel… I’m afraid I don’t understand?” He tilted his helm and looked confused at the minibot’s response. 

Bumblebee rolled his optics and pointed to his throat before flattening his palm and making a slicing motion over it, then he used both servos to cover his mouth to hopefully communicate he couldn’t speak. It took Blitzwing a moment before it finally hit him. 

“You can’t speak…” he sounded sad and worried.

Bumblebee nodded and placed a servo to Blitzwing’s face, the triple changer placed his own servo over the small one and looked at Bumblebee for any other information before realizing that he couldn’t say what happened. 

“Is it permanent?” His voice was stale, almost plotting, if he knew how to fix this he would, he wanted to hear his little bee talk again, laugh again, tell stupid stories about his adventures with Sari, now he couldn’t even do that. 

Bumblebee nodded, his face riddled with sadness. Blitzwing pulled the smaller bot into his arms and held him, his chin resting on the other helm. He didn’t want to let go, he’d never imagine Bumblebee ever getting this seriously hurt, what could have done this? 

_ Who  _ could have done this? 

“Do you know who did this to you?” His persona had switched to Hothead and he had pulled back to lock optics with the autobot. When Bumblebee nodded he felt like he was getting somewhere. 

“This happened during the fight with Starscream, didn’t it?” Bumblebee again nodded. Okay so now he could narrow it down, the last he’d seen of Bumblebee was when he went after Starscream with one of his teammates. He had been shouting then. It couldn’t have been Starscream... _ right?  _

“It was Starscream wasn’t it?” The nod he got from Bumblebee made him see red. 

“I’m gonna beat that cowardice jet so hard he’s not gonna know where his intake begins and his exhaust pipe ends.” The anger seeped out of each word as the triple changer gritted his derma, plotting to make sure that Starscream met an untimely demise. 

Bumblebee shook his helm, as much as he wanted Starscream to pay for what he’d done, it was too much trouble, Blitzwing just randomly tracking and offlining Starscream for what? Megatron would never allow it and if he did it’d look suspicious. 

Blitzwing let out a vent and switched back to Icy, he knew it was too risky, but he couldn’t let the seeker get away so easily. 

He stared back at Bumblebee, he couldn’t have begun to imagine the pain that he went through with getting his voice box damaged, he felt so bad and so powerless to make the autobot feel any better. For now he could be here and comfort the little bot as much as he could.    
  


“Meine Liebste, I will be here for you no matter what, voice box or no voice box.” He held the other’s servos just a bit tighter, not wanting the other to leave. 

“You have my word that I will stay by your side as long as there is a spark in my body.” He leaned his forehead against Bumblebee’s, they both smiled sadly and Blitzwing placed a small kiss on the minibot’s cheek. 

“I love you so much, Hummel.” Bumblebee’s smile disappeared as he buried his face in between Blitzwing’s neck and shoulder. 

He realized he couldn’t say  _ I love you  _ back, and it broke his spark. 


End file.
